Sir Craig Reedie to chair 2020 Evaluation Commission

September 6 - Britain's International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president Sir Craig Reedie has been named chairman of the Commission that will evaluate the candidatures of Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it was announced today.

The 71-year-old Scot, a former chairman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), was also a member of the 2004 and 2008 IOC Coordination Commissions and the 2008 and 2016 IOC Evaluation Commissions, as well as a London 2012 Board member.

He will lead a Commission of eight members and admitted he was delighted to be appointed to the important role.

"I am honoured to have been chosen as head of the 2020 Evaluation Commission, which brings with it a wide range of experience and represents all facets of the Olympic Movement, in particular the athletes," said Sir Craig (pictured top).

"I look forward to working with my fellow Commission members and the three Candidate Cities in the run-up to next September's election."

Sir Craig will be leading a Commission that is made up of eight other representatives, six of who are IOC members.

Guy Drut of France, Frankie Fredericks of Namibia, Nat Indrapana of Thailand, Claudia Bokel of Germany, Eduardo Palomo of Spain and Pat McQuaid of Ireland will be the other IOC members, with International Paralympic Committee (IPC) representative Andrew Parsons of Brazil and IOC executive director Gilbert Felli of Switzerland completing the Commission.

The Commission will be joined IOC sports director Christophe Dubi and IOC head of bid city relations Jacqueline Barrett, as well as a number of expert advisors that have yet to be appointed.

"We've assembled a strong and highly knowledgeable group of individuals led by the experienced Sir Craig Reedie, who knows as well as anybody what it takes to host a sustainable, well-organised and ultimately successful Olympic Games," said IOC President Jacques Rogge.

"The three 2020 Candidate Cities will all benefit greatly from their interactions with the Commission."

Tokyo will be the first city to face inspection when the Commission visits the Japanese capital on March 4 and 7, before heading to the Spanish capital Madrid for its evaluation between March 18 and 21 and concluding its inspection in Istanbul in Turkey between March 24 and 27.

The 2020 Candidate Cities, who all took part in the IOC's Observer Programme during the London 2012 Olympics, will also participate in the London 2012 Debriefing in November in Rio de Janeiro.

The cities then have until January 7 next year to submit their Candidature Files to the IOC.

After an analysis of these files, the Commission will visit the cities in March and spend four full days with each bid team, examining the 14 themes of the IOC's candidature questionnaire, which includes topics such as vision and legacy, transport, accommodation, finance and environment, and visit the competition and non-competition sites and venues proposed in the bid.

Around these official visit dates, the Commission will also hold a number of private meetings to prepare for and follow up on each visit.

The Commission's report will be published prior to the IOC 2020 briefing to take place at the beginning of July 2013.

A final decision on the host of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will be made on September 7 in Buenos Aires.

Contact the writer of this story at tom.degun@insidethegames.biz

About the author

Emily Goddard is a subeditor and reporter for insidethegames.biz. She has broken a number of exclusives including that News International had lost their exclusive deal with London 2012 following the phone-hacking scandal that rocked Britain in 2011, Richard Caborn's future as chairman of the Amateur Boxing Association of England was in danger, and she was also the journalist to report the first comments from the IOC following the Russian anti-gay legislation.

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